We've Seen This Before

[Zaratoughda]

A team comes in here which we expect to beat, and they are giving us all we can handle, and then they TOTALLY run out of gas.

Happened last year a couple of times.

The zone of course had something to do with it. Detroit impressed me as about as quick and active a team as you're gonna see... and zones usually work better against those types of teams.

ANO only played 8 minutes, and Jeter just 9, even though Jeter had 10 points on 3-3 shooting and 4 rebounds in those 9 minutes. The one thing they had in common was 3 fouls in that short of time. Almost as if Dixon was sending them a message... if you can't play without fouling you are gonna sit.

Luther played 23 minutes and Maia 13.

Cam Johnson had been sick and missed the previous day's practice and only played 5 minutes. So, Dixon used Jones at SF to spell Artis. And used WILSON at SG replacing Jones there. Wilson played 15 minutes, some at PG, despite a woeful 1-9 shooting.

Robinson was also off shooting, 2-9, and I wonder if he has fully recovered from the Okinawa trip, which for him included the nasty fall and gash.

 

[PittPoker]

Just can't figure out why Pitt cannot play good man to man defense anymore. The way they look playing man to man now is the way they used to look playing zone.

 

[Piranha]

Just can't figure out why Pitt cannot play good man to man defense anymore. The way they look playing man to man now is the way they used to look playing zone.

1) Players were allowed to play a lot more physical 5-10 years ago.
2) The guys on those teams were junkyard dogs.

 

[PittPoker]

1) Players were allowed to play a lot more physical 5-10 years ago.
2) The guys on those teams were junkyard dogs.

Hmmmm, good points especially #2.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Number one is even more significant this year with the touchy-feely, must allow freedom of movement, officiating rules/rules emphasis.

Dixon has already mentioned that he plans to use more zone as a result and he also said many coaches throughout college basketball are beginning to do the same thing because in regular man to man it is almost impossible to stop players driving all the way to the basket due to the freedom of movement rules without being called for a block or for obstructing the offensive player's movement.

The only version of man-to-man defense I have seen that seems to be working decently in the games I have watched over the last few days is the so-called "pack-line" defense used by Virginia and is said to be catching on with other coaches. It is really a man-to-man with zone principles. In general it works by having all half-court defenders play inside the 3-point arc--except the defender on the ball handler when the ball is outside the arc. When the ball is passed or dribbled into the paint the defense collapses around the player with the ball effectively putting that player into what amounts to a suffocating double or triple team.

I am sure we will see a variety of zones and combo defenses going forward because conventional man-to-man is going to be ineffective under the new rules/rules emphasis if they continue to be tightly enforced.

IMO, the only reason Dixon has not switched to using zone primarily is twofold--

1. Some teams cannot be zoned very effectively due to their personnel (e.g., a team with 4-5 deadly 3 point shooters playing simultaneously).

2. A hope, perhaps faint, that officiating will gradually back-off on the new rules emphasis over the course of the season out of whistle fatigue.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

IMHO, as regards to Pitt the new rules/rules emphasis are putting an extra burden on any hope of playing effective man-to-man--

1. New rules/rules emphasis inhibits playing effective man-to-man (same problem as every other NCAA team).

2. A number of Pitt players are playing timidly on defense due to paranoia about picking up fouls too easily under the new officiating environment and thereby spending more time on the bench (a mental catch 22).

3. Add to the above the problems of getting new younger players to play defense at the college level and assimilating the new transfers and getting them acclimated to Pitt's defensive system.

 

[Jeffburgh]

Number one is even more significant this year with the touchy-feely, must allow freedom of movement, officiating rules/rules emphasis.

Dixon has already mentioned that he plans to use more zone as a result and he also said many coaches throughout college basketball are beginning to do the same thing because in regular man to man it is almost impossible to stop players driving all the way to the basket due to the freedom of movement rules without being called for a block or for obstructing the offensive player's movement.

The only version of man-to-man defense I have seen that seems to be working decently in the games I have watched over the last few days is the so-called "pack-line" defense used by Virginia and is said to be catching on with other coaches. It is really a man-to-man with zone principles. In general it works by having all half-court defenders play inside the 3-point arc--except the defender on the ball handler when the ball is outside the arc. When the ball is passed or dribbled into the paint the defense collapses around the player with the ball effectively putting that player into what amounts to a suffocating double or triple team.

I am sure we will see a variety of zones and combo defenses going forward because conventional man-to-man is going to be ineffective under the new rules/rules emphasis if they continue to be tightly enforced.

IMO, the only reason Dixon has not switched to using zone primarily is twofold--

1. Some teams cannot be zoned very effectively due to their personnel (e.g., a team with 4-5 deadly 3 point shooters playing simultaneously).

2. A hope, perhaps faint, that officiating will gradually back-off on the new rules emphasis over the course of the season out of whistle fatigue.

Nice post.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Jeter just 9, even though Jeter had 10 points on 3-3 shooting and 4 rebounds in those 9 minutes. The one thing they had in common was 3 fouls in that short of time. Almost as if Dixon was sending them a message... if you can't play without fouling you are gonna sit.

Well Jeter picked up two fouls in a minute in the first half, and guys who get two fouls in the first half usually sit. So if you want to argue that the message from Jamie Dixon is don't pick up two fouls in one minute in the first half and expect to keep playing, then yeah, that was the message he was sending. For the 4,957th time.